The new religion wars have reached High Table, and the dons, including John Cornwell, surely owe Richard Dawkins their gratitude - if not a slice of their royalties. The God Delusion has prompted a number of defences of faith from the religious, but Cornwell's 'seraphic response' may be the first to do so in the form of a nitpicking letter from a guardian angel. Notwithstanding the plain fact that such an angel would have to stay pretty quiet for fear of being swiftly probed, scanned and anatomised, it might be thought a somewhat biased correspondent on theology. (You wouldn't trust a defence of spiritualism narrated by a ouija board.) Sadly, Cornwell's angel is also a poor reader, rather haughty and dismissive, taking Dawkins's words out of context and dodging the tough questions. God might have hired a better messenger.